Griffin leads Clippers past Kings 93-85

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ
Posted Apr 06 2012 2:03AM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Blake Griffin took a rare night off from dunking, and he still found a way to frustrate an opposing big man.

Griffin made three straight jumpers in the closing minutes to finish with 14 points and nine rebounds, overcoming a bruising battle with DeMarcus Cousins to lift the Los Angeles Clippers to a 93-85 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night.

"I thought that was a great football game tonight," Kings coach Keith Smart said. "It was two big guys playing and these guys are physical. It's going to be a great rivalry."
Maybe one day.

Two of the NBA's best budding big men exchanged several shoves, elbows and words - with Griffin doing his best to stay quiet against the hot-tempered Cousins - throughout until last season's NBA Rookie of the Year and slam-dunk champion took over late.

Griffin's last jumper with 2:18 remaining put the Clippers ahead by three, and they held on to rebound from a loss to the Lakers a night earlier that ended a six-game winning streak - the franchise's best in 20 years - and slowed momentum to overtake its crosstown rival in the Pacific Division.

"It wasn't me going at anybody. I don't want to get that started," said Griffin, who had Cousins in constant foul trouble. "That's something that will hopefully go away for him. When guys get frustrated, that's what happens."

Randy Foye scored 20 points and Chris Paul had 13 points and eight assists for Los Angeles, closing to two games back of the Lakers. The Clippers host Sacramento on Saturday night, and no doubt the attention will be back on the two big men.

While Griffin insisted he was moving on from the back-and-forth with Cousins, Sacramento's second-year center has other plans.

"That's what Blake is going to say because he's in L.A., where actors belong," said Cousins, held to eight points and three rebounds before fouling out in the final seconds. "And he's an actor."

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Suns upend Kings 109-100

Posted Apr 04 2012 2:15AM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash controlled the game when it mattered most, making big shots and finding open teammates in the fourth quarter with the game in doubt.

It's a trait the veteran All-Star point guard has exhibited throughout his NBA career, and he did it one more time Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings.

Marcin Gortat had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Nash added 18 points and 12 assists and the Suns held off the Kings for a 109-100 victory.

It was a key win for Phoenix, which is trying to move up in the standings with 13 games remaining, including six of the next seven on the road.

The Suns won their second straight and third in four games to move over the .500 mark (27-26) for only the third time this season.

The Suns moved within 1 1/2 games of Houston for the Western Conference's eighth and final playoff berth.

"We know every game is critical," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "You have to treat every game like a playoff game. This group understands that urgency."

It was Nash helping to push the lead to double digits in the fourth quarter when the Kings kept hanging around, hoping they could get a win on a night when they didn't play well.
Sacramento even had a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter that didn't last long.

After getting a rest for the first half of the fourth quarter, Nash entered the game with 6:25 remaining and was key in a 12-2 run that put Phoenix ahead 101-90.

He made a 3-pointer and followed with an off-balance shot in the lane. A basket by Channing Frye gave the Suns an 11-point lead with 4:05 remaining.

Nash had seven points and three assists in the fourth. Nash also got Phoenix back on track in the second quarter when it squandered much of its 17-point lead but managed to go into halftime ahead by eight, thanks in part to Nash.

"I wouldn't call it a good win, but it was one we needed," said Jared Dudley, who scored 15 points. "They kept making runs at us and twice Steve Nash had to step in and come to the rescue and bail us out."

The Suns won despite the play of DeMarcus Cousins. He scored a career-high 41 points and had 12 rebounds for the Kings, who have lost three of four. Cousins said Nash was the difference-maker.

"All the credit goes to Steve. He's an incredible player and he knows how to run his team. He sits on the sidelines, rests up a little bit, and then comes back in to (get) you. He doesn't take a lot of shots until the end of the game. He's a tough matchup."

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SPURS VOICE: SPURS STUN THE KINGS 117-112

SPURS VOICE: SPURS STUN THE KINGS 117-112: Sacramento had a good run going in this game, but still fell short of San Antonio in the TOTAL POINTS column.

NBA Recap of Wednesday's Win

Notebook: Kings 115, Wizards 107 Posted Wednesday February 22, 2012 11:29PM
By Rich Dubroff, for NBA.com
THE FACTS: Marcus Thornton and Isaiah Thomas combined for 34 of their 40 points in the second half, and the Sacramento Kings broke a six-game losing streak with a come-from-behind 115-107 win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.

The Kings trailed by eight at halftime, but outscored Washington 55-39 in the second half. Sacramento took a 102-101 lead with 5:01 to play on Thomas' driving banker. The Kings closed the game with a 15-6 run.

Thornton ended with 22, and Thomas with 18. Tyreke Evans had 20 of his 22 points in the first half for Sacramento.

Jordan Crawford led the Wizards with a season-high 32 points. John Wall narrowly missed a triple-double with 21 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. Washington ended the first half of the season with a four-game losing streak.

QUOTABLE: "There was no defense out there. It was terrible."

-- Kings' DeMarcus Cousins.


THE STAT: Thornton and Thomas had six points in the first half -- 34 in the second. Evans and Cousins had 34 in the first half -- four in the second.
TURNING POINT: In the fourth quarter, Cousins and Evans didn't play at all. Sacramento coach Keith Smart played just five players in the fourth quarter: Thornton, Thomas, Jason Thompson, Chuck Hayes and Francisco Garcia.

QUOTABLE II: "They need to introduce themselves to some of the bigs that they never throw the ball to." -- Washington coach Randy Wittman.


HOT: Evans was 8-for-10 from the field, but watched his team's rally from the bench.

NOT: Nick Young was 6-for-23 and was criticized by Wittman for missing a reverse 360' layup in the first half. "Crowd oohed and aahed. We didn't get any points out of it," Wittman said. "Until we're committed to making winning basketball plays the whole game, it's going to look like that."

GOOD MOVE: Smart keeping Jimmer Fredette off the court in the second half. Crawford scored 15 points with Fredette guarding him in the second quarter.

BAD MOVE: Young kept firing up ill-advised shots in the second half. He was 2-for-11. "I didn't know I had that many shots," Young said. "I was just trying to get things going for my teammates."

NOTABLE: Both teams reached the All-Star break having played exactly half their schedule. Sacramento is 11-22 and Washington is 7-26.

IN THE ARENA: Many devotees of Fredette swelled the crowd to 17.085. It was Fredette's first game -- college or professional -- in Washington. He scored eight points in 12 minutes.

NEXT: For the Kings, Tuesday vs. Utah, Mar. 1 vs. L.A. Clippers, Mar. 2 @ L.A. Lakers. For the Wizards, Tuesday @ Milwaukee, Wednesday vs. Orlando, Mar. 3 vs. Cleveland.

KINGS vs HEAT

In less than 1 hour the Sacramento Kings will tip off against the Eastern Conference Champions. The game starts at 7:30 EST, which is 4:30 pacific time. The Kings will have their hands full, but look to leave Miami with a win.

Sacramento Kings arena deal is high-drama, slow motion

By Cosmo Garvin
cosmog@newsreview.com

This article was published on 02.16.12.

It was not—despite what you might have picked up from some breathless Sacramento Bee columnists—a do-or-die moment for a new Sacramento Kings arena. It wasn’t make or break. It wasn’t even put up or shut up.

It was just one more in a seemingly endless series of incremental baby steps. The Sacramento City Council was expected on Tuesday night (after press time) to approve a list of 10 “most qualified” companies bidding to take over the city’s public-parking system. The lucky company would get the city’s parking revenue for the next 20, 30, maybe 50 years, in exchange for a large upfront payment to help build an arena.

The payment could be as large as $200 million, depending on the conditions of the parking deal. Right now, the city gets about $9 million in revenue from its parking operations every year.

Tuesday’s vote marked the end of the city’s request for qualifications from bidders and a pivot to the much more exciting request for proposals phase.

OK, so not “crunch time,” exactly. But there is a more significant council meeting coming up on February 28.
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KINGS AT PISTONS - 5 Key Points

BY Jason Jones and Ailene Voisin

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - With DeMarcus Cousins (mid back spasms) out the Kings will be without their most consistent player this season.

How will the Kings replace Couins' production (16.3 points, 11.3 rebounds)?

Here are five things the Kings can do to still be productive without Cousins against the Detroit Pistons: 1. More opportunities for J.T.
Jason Thompson is averaging 8.7 points and 7.9 rebounds in 15 starts this season. Now that Thompson has shown an improved post game the Kings could look to Thompson to pick up the scoring slack.

2. Hickson steps up
The Kings had high hopes for J.J. Hickson before the season, but he's averaging just 5.4 points and 5.6 rebounds. Hickson's scoring is at its lowest since his rookie season.

3. Wings on the glass
Without their leading rebounder the Kings need players like Tyreke Evans, John Salmons and Donte' Greene to rebound well.
4. Chuckwagon time
Chuck Hayes will be needed to harass Pistons second-year center Greg Monroe. It's a task Hayes would have had at some point, but he'll be needed more tonight.

5. Make some shots
The Kings are the NBA's worst shooting team and Cousins, who is shooting 44.6 percent, has the second-best percentage among Kings regulars. So the rest of the Kings need to shoot better than 40 percent (or play really good defense) to have a chance tonight. The Pistons have played well of late.

This Is A New Blog to Bring Kings Fans What They Deserve!

Sacramento has been host to the Kings, formerly the Kansas City and Sacramento Royals. Those were the days of available season tickets. Their fictitious brief past here in California's Capital is rich in Tradition and is equaled with perennial fan enthusiasm. The Kings as an organization, was lucky to land in a one-team town. So what if it is Cow Town, This is our cow-town team.

I have been a Die-Hard Kings Fan since the Mitch Richmond days in the Mid-Nineties, and the passion instilled deeply within my family, and family-to-be will know nothing other. There was the stretch of Western Conference Showdowns with our Biggest foes the Lakers. Our Southern Neighbors, who stood us up, and backed us into the wall in the 2002 conference finals. The great team tail-spinned out of the elite teams after re-arranging the whole Roster. For the 2002 Kings team that was one of the best teams, their chemistry created solidity in the Locker Room, as well as on the court.